Lacking inspiration for a trip to the theater? To help guide you in your choices, here is a review of the pieces on display this week, with links to our interviews and reviews already published.
Posted yesterday at 12:00 p.m.
Against you
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, LA PRESSE
Inès Defosse, director Solène Paré and Isabelle Blais
Our interview
Closera play by Briton Patrick Marber that became a successful film, dissects the mechanics of love with almost cruel detail. The work – renamed Against you – arrives on the boards of Duceppe in a rereading which adds a promising new dimension. Director Solène Paré chose to feminize the character of Dan, an obituary journalist in his mid-forties who will see his somewhat lukewarm life turned upside down after meeting a stranger in the street.
Chez Duceppe until February 15
Read our interview with the artists
Our review
“For her first collaboration with the company, the director makes a solid entrance. The four performers are very solid. A mention for the young Inès Defosse, a real revelation! She will amaze you in the scene where she seduces Larry with her pole dancing. A scene full of eroticism and despair! Like this lucid and cruel work which explores the great disorder of love. »
Luc Boulanger, The Press
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A children’s party
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, LA PRESSE
Francois Arnaud
Our interview
More than a decade after missing his meeting with Michel Marc Bouchard, caught up in the series The BorgiasFrançois Arnaud plays in A children’s party at the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde. Shortly before the holidays, The Press met the actor who will be 40 this year to talk about his return to the stage, after 16 years of absence!
Read our big interview with François Arnaud
Our review
“François Arnaud does very well with the difficult score written especially for him. Often alone on the immense TNM stage, he is sometimes intoxicated by vanity, sometimes pitiful by his desire to possess everything. In the skin of Nicolas, Iannicko N’Doua plays the tender half of the tandem with great naturalness. However, it is the divine Sylvie Drapeau who makes the biggest impression with her exquisite interpretation of Claire, a retired dentist who beats boredom by making collages. »
Stéphanie Morin, The Press
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Le show beige
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Simon Lacroix, Camille Giguère-Côté and Raphaëlle Lalande for the play Le show beige
Our interview
Graduating from the National Theater School in 2021, Camille Giguère-Côté took up the pen while she was still studying. Her goal: to put down on paper situations that she found irresistibly funny. From a phrase heard in a bar, a comment from one of her acting teachers and a simple flash from her obviously fertile brain, she knitted a piece in the form of 10 separate paintings. However, the thread that unites them all is not red, but beige. Pascale Renaud-Hébert directs this show where five performers – Ariel Charest, Benoit Drouin-Germain, Irdens Exantus, Simon Lacroix and Raphaëlle Lalande – embody this gallery of characters overwhelmed by life.
Stéphanie Morin, The Press
At La Licorne from January 21 to 1is mars
Read our interview with the artists
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Monsters
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Monstersdirected by Marie-Andrée Lemieux (center), is a play written by Marie-Ève Bélanger (right), in collaboration with the Collectif Ex-Placé DPJ, founded by Jessica Côté-Guimond (left) .
This is a very first creation for Marie-Ève Bélanger and Marie-Andrée Lemieux, and they did not seek the easy route, nor especially lightness. With Monstersthe two creators offer a moving foray into the life of a child of the DPJ. With every twisted ramification you can imagine.
Silvia Galipeau, The Press
At the Fred-Barry room of the Théâtre Denise-Pelletier, from January 21 to February 8
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The underworld
The room The Underworld (The Nether) by Jennifer Haley, translated by Étienne Lepage, focuses on the impacts of technology on human relationships and the various ethical questions raised by virtual reality in the imminent future. Note that this production of The Man Who Saw the Bear received the prize for best show and that of best design (Scenography, Lighting, Videos), awarded by the Association of Theater Critics (Quebec section), in 2023. Vincent Champoux, Octavie Carré, Vincent Massé-Gagné, Rosalie Cournoyer and Carol Cassistat are part of the cast.
Luc Boulanger, The Press
At the Théâtre La Bordée, in Quebec, until February 8
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People, places, things
Our review
“There is a lot of beauty and goodness in this theatrical proposal, peppered with humor, from director Olivier Arteau. Caustic as can be and elusive as it should be, Anne-Élisabeth Bossé has a naturalness that commands admiration in the role of Emma. But the text by the British Duncan Macmillan (translated by David Laurin) does not succeed in awakening in us that part which demands to be moved. Emma’s character lies so much that it’s hard to get attached to her. Incapable of an ounce of authenticity, it constantly slips through our fingers and ends up tiring. »
Stéphanie Morin, The Press
At Trident, in Quebec, until February 8
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Strawberries in January – A Musical Fantasy
A quarter of a century after its creation, Strawberries in Januarythe tender and delicious play by Evelyne de la Chenelière, continues on its merry way. The author recounts a love affair experienced by four single people looking for relationships. And who will fall into “the trap of destiny”. During its production at the Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui in 2002, it was written in this newspaper that Strawberries in January was “light therapy in the heart of winter”. Reimagined by Frédéric Bélanger and Audrey Thériault, the piece will be presented in English at the Centaur, in a new musical version, under the direction of Frédéric Bélanger. The music is by Ludovic Bonnier, Eva Foote and Habib Zekri. Eloi ArchamBaudoin, Ryan Bommarito, Métushalème Dary and Madeleine Scovil play singles looking for love.
Luc Boulanger, The Press
At the Centaur from January 21 to February 9
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All that
The room All that by Alistair McDowall, directed by Louis-Karl Tremblay, is a “only on stage” starring Evelyne Rompré. The actress will deliver a daring monologue, “a real tour de force”, notes the company in passing. Furthermore, Evelyne Rompré also collaborated with Tremblay in the fall, for the production of My little fillyalongside Bruno Marcil. The production, acclaimed by our critic Jean Siag, will return to La Licorne, from May 9 to 16.
Luc Boulanger, The Press
At Quat’Sous from January 22 to February 15
Consult the part page
His last wife
Premiered at the Stratford Festival, Ontario, in 2015, The Last Wife was shown at the Centaur Theater four years later. Kate Hennig’s play forms the first part of the award-winning trilogy Queenmaker Series. In its French version at the Rideau Vert, under the title of His last wife, the show will drop period costumes and Renaissance language, to better affirm the audacity and modernity of the journey of Kate Parr, “exceptional woman” and final wife of the English King Henry VIII. The artistic director of Centaur, Eda Holmes, is responsible for the production. And directs, among others, a beautiful duo of actors, Marie-Pier Labrecque and Henri Chassé, who play the royal couple.
Luc BoulangerThe Press
Au Rideau Vert until February 22
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On tour
There were ten of themat the Théâtre Maisonneuve at Place des Arts on January 23
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Lauat the Théâtre Desjardins, in Montreal, on January 22; at the Outremont Theater on January 24
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Lawat the Albert-Rousseau Hall, in Quebec, on January 21; at Théâtre C, in Saguenay, January 23
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Midnight somewhereat the Théâtre des Deux Rives, in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, January 23
Read our interview with the artists
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Santa Claus is trashat Carré 150, in Victoriaville, on January 23; at the Théâtre de la Ville, in Longueuil, on January 24; at the Desjardins Hall, in Terrebonne, on January 25; at the Philippe-Filion hall of the Shawinigan Arts Center on January 26
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To great evils, great speechesat the Philippe-Filion hall of the Shawinigan Arts Center on January 24
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Two women in goldat the Harold-Shenkman hall, in Orléans, on January 23; at the Odyssée hall, in Gatineau, January 24 and 25
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Bachelorat the Théâtre du Cégep de Trois-Rivières on January 22; at the Théâtre Gilles-Vigneault, in Saint-Jérôme, January 25
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